Adedokun Waliyu 
The management of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) on Thursday disclosed that 1.6 million students nationwide would write the May/June 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
WAEC Head of National Office (HNO), Mr. Patrick Areghan, who stated this at the council Yaba headquarters, said 1, 621, 853 students sit for the school exam in over 22,000 secondary schools starting on Monday, May 8, 2023.
Areghan, who was flanked by the top management staff of the council said only two states owe WAEC for their sponsored students.
He also revealed that despite the closure of entries for May/June 2023 WASSCE registration, some private schools are mounting pressure on WAEC to accommodate ‘candidates they went shopping’.
The WAEC boss said the examination in focus is the school candidates’ diet of WASSCE, meant for the regular exit-class (SS3) students in approved government and private secondary schools in the country.
Areghan said: “A total of 1,621,853 candidates from 20,851 secondary schools have registered for the examination. Out of this number, 798,810 are males, amounting to 49.25%, while 823,043 are females, which is 50.75% of the total candidature.
“The statistics show that there is a further increase and decreases in the number of females and males respectively, compared to the 2022 diet. On the whole, the candidature for the 2023 WASSCE (SC) increased by 13, 868 over the figure of 2022 1,607,985.
“Candidates would be examined in 76 subjects, made up of 197 papers. About 30,000 practicing senior secondary school teachers, nominated by the various State Ministries of Education, would be participating in the examination as supervisors.
“Teachers in all the schools presenting candidates for the examination would serve as invigilators in their respective schools. Supervisors and invigilators for derecognized schools would be solely appointed, from outside the schools, by the State Ministries of Education concerned.”
According to him, the Council has established a self-service system for
candidates, through the CHATBOT Platform, to enable them to access their entries, which in most cases, the schools do not allow them to see, contrary to instructions.
Areghan explained all hands must on deck to ensure that the WASSCE is hitch-free; adding that non-adherence to the registration deadline is still a lingering challenge in preparation for examinations.
“As said here supra, you will be surprised to hear that even though entries were floated on October 10, 2022, and were billed to end finally on March 27, 2023, we could not actually close entries until April 15, 2023, due to pressures from different stakeholders.
“As of today even when printing of pre-examination, examination, and post-examination materials has progressed significantly, and are being distributed to States, some schools are still asking for permission to upload entries!
He insisted that entries for WAEC examinations are not open-ended, just like other endeavours, ‘’there is a time to start and a time to end. Delay in meeting registration deadlines puts all examining bodies under pressure and WAEC is not an exception. We would, therefore, once again, want to appeal to all schools to stick to registration deadlines in order to make preparations for examinations seamless, and release of results possible within set dates.”
Speaking about the exam on credit, Areghan confirmed that two states are indebted to the council but refused to disclose their names or the amount involved.
He added: “One state is owing the council huge money. The other is owing too but not as the first state. We are dealing with compliance states.” Areghan assured the students and schools that in line with WAEC practice, the results of the examination would be released 45 days after the conduct of the last paper, while the certificates will be printed and issued to schools less than 90 days after the release of results.
“WAEC Nigeria, in its bid to serve the Nigerian Child better, has acquired a state-of-the-art digital certificate printer that enables us to print and issue certificates to candidates within a record time,”.
